The first thing you noticed when walking to Sony’s press conference at their Culver City Studios soundstage was that, of all the press conferences, they had the most screens. So no matter what happens in this console war, Sony wins that battle. Either way, Sony had a variety of announcements, some good, some surprising and some "other" ones as well. Highlights included a new, lighter PSP (complete with video output), a variety of Home features (including a level of cell phone integration via a Sony Ericsson handset), and a whole lot of games (one of which was Metal Gear Solid 4).
For the first time, the press conference was lead by Jack Tretton instead of Kaz Hriai, due to recent shifting of roles. Tretton was visited onstage by other familiar faces of the Sony family, Kaz included, to make announcements for their respective areas of the company. The conference essentially was broken down by platforms: the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PSP.
Starting with the PS2, they recapped that it is the best-selling console of all time, and that they plan to ship another 10 million consoles before the end of the year. They also recapped how well God of War II did, and touched on their plans for upcoming games for the console that include the party-friendly games Buzz and Singstar. That was about it for the PS2.
Moving on to the PSP, Kaz came out and showed off the new PSP, which could have very easily been the old PSP. The new PSP has a lighter, slimmer design, as well as video output that connects directly to any television. At least they added in one cool new feature (not 8 gigs of memory, not a second analog stick), but they did figure out a way to cut down on the load times. Either way, the new version of the handheld will debut later this year and come in two colors -- Ceramic White and Ice Silver (in addition to Piano Black) -- and the Star Wars special edition, which was introduced by Chewbacca himself (the Wookiee's arrival was easily one of the high points of the conference).
Next was the PlayStation Network presented by Phil Harrison, but there weren’t any big surprises here. There are over 80 games currently in development for download, the best of which was the newly announced puzzle game echocrome (a minimalist's dream) that will be available for download for both the PSP and the PS3. Other downloadable games to watch out for were Warhawk, SOCOM: Confrontation and Pain.
Home was the next topic of discussion. Already showcased periodically throughout the presentation using Tretton, Hriai, and Harrison as examples, it was time to really delve into the opportunities that Home would present Sony in the coming months. They reconfirmed the fall rollout, showed off the “sideways” connection to new channels such as the mobile phone integration, and announced a web-based social networking site that will be integrated into Home for everyone without a PS3 to see what you’ve built. Sony’s plan to have Home function as an integrated and cohesive space was punctuated by the fact that you can now jump into and out of any game directly from the Home interface. They also took their avatars for a mini-tour of the virtual world demonstrating some of their outdoor spaces, and eventually their movie theatre which they used to show off trailers for some of their most anticipated PS3 titles.
The final lap of Sony’s press conference came with what they hope will encourage the sale of 11 million PS3s in the next year, the HD games. First they started with the couple of third-party exclusive titles, Haze and Unreal Tournament 3. They then ran through a series of additional third-party titles very similar to the list that Microsoft showed off the night before: Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed, Kane and Lynch, Resident Evil 5, The Simpsons, and so on and so forth. But the best was saved for last: an appearance by Hideo Kojima could only mean one thing -- a look at the PS3 exclusive, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and boy, did it look amazing.? The trailer that was shown ended? with a bang by showing off one of best choreographed fight scenes in a game... ever.
Overall, Sony’s first-party games made the strongest case of the day for anyone who doesn’t have a PS3 to go out and buy one. With a line up that includes Ratchet and Clank, Heavenly Sword, LittleBigPlanet, Uncharted and the newly announced Infamous and Folklore.? The presser ended with? the game that? made a very strong case for the PS3 to be the powerhouse console of this generation-? an in game demonstration of Killzone 2, and boy did it look good. It may be about? time to pick up a PS3.?
